New Delhi: Delhi govt Thursday unveiled a redevelopment and conservation plan for Old Delhi while also renaming Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation, the body responsible for preserving Walled City, Indraprastha Heritage Redevelopment Corporation.Chairing the corporation’s annual general meeting, chief minister Rekha Gupta directed officials to prioritise Chandni Chowk’s redevelopment with improved public amenities, parking and tourist facilities. She called the decisions “significant steps towards restoring the historic, cultural and architectural heritage of Old Delhi to its original glory while equipping it with modern civic amenities”.Old Delhi, an area that has emerged over 350 years, covers over 7sq km and is home to a World Heritage Site, 10 nationally protected and 10 state-protected monuments, and more than 700 locally protected heritage sites. Lakhs of people visit the area every day for shopping, business, religious purposes and tourism.Delhi govt constituted SRDC in 2008 to coordinate its conservation, restoration and infrastructure upgradation. The corporation has, however, struggled with overlapping jurisdictions and poor coordination among multiple agencies, limited enforcement powers, delays in removing encroachments, and inadequate maintenance of even completed projects.Prolonged delays in implementing projects resulted in Old Delhi continuing to suffer from illegal parking and encroachment, poor water supply, sewerage and drainage issues, poor solid waste management, tangled overhead utility cables, and a shortage of public toilets and poor maintenance of the existing ones. Even several heritage buildings and havelis are in a sorry state due to poor maintenance and unauthorised alterations.CM’s office said the renamed corporation would undertake heritage conservation, restoration of historic buildings, infrastructure modernisation, traffic and solid waste management, and tourism development. Minister Ashish Sood said historians, conservation experts, architects and other domain experts would be involved in the planning and execution.“Heritage conservation and modern development must progress together so that residents, traders and tourists alike benefit from improved facilities, enabling Old Delhi to establish a new identity as a world-class heritage destination,” said CM, emphasising the need to safeguard the interests of local traders.CM instructed officials to prepare a detailed blueprint for the integrated development of Hanuman Temple at Yamuna Bazar and the area behind it, and also a comprehensive plan for the beautification and redevelopment of the Jama Masjid area and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Marg in front of Old Delhi Railway Station.Reviewing the redevelopment work of Town Hall, Chandni Chowk’s most prominent colonial-era civic building which had served as the headquarters of Municipal Corporation of Delhi, CM directed that an entry-exit point be created at the Chandni Chowk side to make it a tourist destination. A control room will be set up in the market to inform, guide and assist tourists from across India and abroad.
